this is bbc news, the headlines: moscow tells britain to withdraw more diplomats in the continuing row two british men accused of carrying out beheadings for the so—called islamic state have complained that they won't get a fair trial after losing their citizenship. sorry, a problem over those two. the daughter of one of their victims — david haines — says they should be given orange jumpsuits and stripped of all the things they hold dear. hundreds of people have attended the funeral of professor stephen hawking in cambridge. crowds gathered outside as the service took place and the astronomer royal, lord rees, and actor eddie redmayne both gave readings. the un calls for an independent investigation as 16 palestinians are killed in clashes on the gaza—israeli border. the head of the metropolitan police blames social media for normalising

violence and leading more children to commit stabbings and murders. and in half an hour, dateline london will be talking about those clashes on the gaza—israeli border, where more than a dozen palestinian protestors have been killed. good afternoon, and welcome to bbc news. russia is expelling more than twice as many british diplomats as it had previously announced as a consequence of the nerve—agent attack in salisbury. the british mission in moscow must be reduced by more than 50 staff. the foreign office here says it is considering the implications of the russian decision. the government's also weighing up a russian demand to be given access

to yulia skripal in hospital. our correspondent simonjones is in salisbury for us. simon, the access to yulia skripal, what are the considerations for the foreign office? well, i think the key consideration, regardless of the foreign office, is going to be the wishes of yulia skripal herself, would she want to receive a visit from a russian delegation? if she did, when will she be well enough for that to happen? what we do know is that her condition in hospital here in salisbury has been improving, she is no longer in a critical condition, but she is receiving 24—hour, round—the—clock care. the russian authorities, as soon as they heard that, said they had a right to see her, and on top of that they published a list of questions they wanted answered by

the british authorities, 27 in total, a long list, but to summarise some of them, they wanted to know what treatment she was having, they wa nted what treatment she was having, they wanted to know why, if their condition was improving, while her father remains in a critical condition, and they want to see photos of her and her father in hospital to prove they were indeed in hospital in salisbury, and that they were still alive. well, the foreign office has not replied to all those questions, but we have had all those questions, but we have had a response in terms of getting access to yulia skripal. they say they are considering that request, but they are stressing, as i did at the start of this answer, that the key thing is her rights and who wishes. and then turning to the news of the russian expulsions of british diplomats from moscow, what more is being said about that from the british end? well, this row shows no sign of abating. we have learned today that the number of diplomats

and their staff being told that they will be cut in moscow is double the previous level. we have already had 23 diplomats who were kicked out by moscow in retaliation for a similar number being thrown out by britain. we are now learning the total overall will be around 50, so in terms of that, it could be diplomats, but it could also be some of their staff. britain says it is looking at the implications of this. it is saying it is regrettable, but it is saying in terms of culpability for the nerve agent attack in salisbury, there is only one place to point the finger, and that is with the russian authorities. as for russia, they have been saying all along they want proof from the british authorities, proof that the british authorities, proof that the british authorities, proof that the british authorities need that russia was responsible. simon, thank you. earlier i spoke to sir tony brenton, the former uk ambassador to russia. he told me that that demand by moscow for consular access is a right that russian citizens, such as yulia skripal, are entitled to. the geneva convention is pretty clear that we have to grant access.

so the foreign office will be very cautious about not finally going along with that, because they know very well, and we all do, that the russians operate on a basis of strict reciprocity. if we interpret it strictly, they will do the same in a future case, and some unfortunate briton in trouble in russia will have trouble getting consular access himself. and this issue about a russian plane, which is a sidebar story, but a aeroflot flight that was searched, russians are raising questions about that. as an experienced diplomat, what is your view on these searches, and given what we've said about reciprocity? that is the point. i don't know the story about the search. we are saying it was a perfectly routine operation, and i'm sure that is the case. however, the russians,

in the present state, would interpret what happened as affected by the state of our relations. they will certainly want to act on the basis of reciprocity, and there is a danger they will start inconveniencing british flights into moscow in a similar way. in terms of the alliances, so crucial here, how do you think that picture is shaping up? there have been so many countries that have come to back the uk. will that give the british government confidence about going forward? can i just say, and this isn'tjust patriotism, i think our government and diplomats have performed brilliantly, getting the level of international support they've done, which nobody expected them to achieve at the beginning. this has come as a real shock to the russians, which is one reason they are picking us out in particular. it is reasonable to hope it will be enough of a shock that the next time someone suggest a brutal and nasty operation like the attack on mr skripal, someone else in the kremlin will say,

"look at the price we paid last time, we can't do this again." two british men held captive in syria accused of being members of an islamic state gang that murdered dozens of hostages have said they regret the killings. they've complained that they won't get a fair trial. alexanda kotey and el shafee elsheikh, who were captured by kurdish fighters injanuary, say they've been stripped of their uk citizenship. jessica parker reports. they became the most infamous gang of foreign fighters in the self—styled islamic state. jihadijohn, his real name mohammed emwazi, now dead, aine davis, in prison in turkey, and alexanda kotey and el shafee elsheikh, captured in january by syrian kurdish fighters who are now holding them in northern syria while their fate is decided. among many others, the gang is accused of beheading alan henning, a driver and aid

workerfrom eccles, and david haines, an aid workerfrom perth. now, speaking for the first time since their capture, alexanda kotey described the murder of is hostages as "regrettable". the pair complain that they will not get a fair trial. they say the uk has illegally withdrawn their citizenship, putting them at risk of rendition and torture. us officials believe the gang beheaded at least 27 hostages, among them the american journalist james foley, who went missing in syria in 2012. his mother says the men must be held to account. i really am not that interested in their opinion on anything. i am interested in them being held accountable for their horrific crimes. and right now they look like they're on vacation. that is the part that is very concerning to me and upsetting. diane foley has said she fears that while the two men

remain in northern syria, they could still evade justice. the government have not commented on whether the pair have been stripped off their citizenship, but britain and the united states have been holding talks on the fate of the two men, and where — how — they might face trial. jessica parker, bbc news. the family of the aid worker david haines, who was killed by the cell, said alexanda kotey and el shafee elsheikh had showed no remorse. in a statement they said... the funeral of renowned theoretical physicist professor stephen hawking has taken place in cambridge this afternoon. hundreds of people gathered to pay their respects. actor eddie redmayne was one

of several speakers at a service at the university church, great st mary's. the professor's eldest son robert and astronomer royal martin rees also gave addresses to the congregation. as the funeral cortege arrived at the church, the bells rang out 76 times, once for each year of professor hawking's life. our correspondentjo black is in cambridge. jo. yes, professor stephen hawking, we know, was an international icon who brought a science to the masses, but home was always cambridge, and especially the university, where he studied and worked. we are standing outside the church, great st mary's, where the funeral has taken place today. it ended around 30 or a0 minutes ago, so now it is business as usual in cambridge. but thousands of people came out to see this

historic moment, and i have been speaking to some of them. professor hawking was such an inspiring person, and it's a very sad day. but...it‘s just brilliant, having lived in the same lifetime as someone like this. history is being made today. stephen hawking is going to be interred in westminster abbey next to sir isaac newton, how famous can you get, you know? very important, i think it's great respect to a very special mind. like he discovered a lot of things, just showing appreciation. so there you go, some of the thoughts of people who came and

lined the route. this was a private service, 500 people, including family of course, colleagues, celebrities, eddie redmayne, who played the professor in the film the theory of everything, astrophysicist brian may, and his wife, anita dobson, and comedian and science presenter dara o briain was also here. the astronomer royal, martin rees, gave a reading, but he did say on the radio earlier today, a lovely quote, talking about professor hawking's mind and his disability, saying he was an imprisoned mind roaming because most which grabs the public imagination, thinking about the largest things while completely trapped. now, professor hawking's body will be cremated, and his ashes will be interred at westminster abbey near the grave of sir isaac newton. jo, thank you very much. thousands of palestinians have been attending funerals in gaza for some of the 16 people shot dead by israeli troops yesterday. tens of thousands of protestors had

gathered along the border fence between gaza and israel at the start of a planned six—week demonstration. the united nations is calling for an independent inquiry. yolande knell has this report from jerusalem. israeli drones dropped tear gas as huge palestinian crowds massed on the israel—gaza border after friday's prayers. organisers had called for a peaceful march, but israel's military says demonstrators threw stones and tried to breach the perimeter fence entering israeli territory. that's when its soldiers opened fire. and the result was deadly. last night, emergency talks took place at the un security council. israel must uphold its responsibilities under international human rights and humanitarian law. lethal force should only be used as a last resort. palestinians here are demanding the right to return to land

they lost 70 years ago when the state of israel was created. israel says gaza's hamas leaders just want to stir up unrest on the border. over the last few weeks, you have had numerous attempts by hamas to cross into israel through the border with squads of terrorists to kill our people. we can't allow our border to be porous. we can't allow the hamas activists to tear down the border fence and into israel. we would be putting our people in danger. but now palestinians plan to stay in these camps near the israel border for the next six weeks, and the fear is that with further protests, there will be further unrest. yolande knell, bbc news, jerusalem. earlier, i spoke to our middle east analyst alan johnston about the violence in gaza. a really extraordinary day of tension yesterday and the violence, confrontation on the border line

that marks the edge of gaza and the start of israel. as you say, something like 15 or 16 people killed... their funerals taking place today. scenes of rage and anger in the streets of gaza as these people were buried, the health ministry saying that there are something like ia00 in hospital as well, and of course very different interpretations of what happened from the two sides, as you would expect. one of the questions that it raises, given the scale of the woundings and deaths, is there a less, you know, risky, dangerous way of the israelis stopping the border incursions that they are so worried about? well, the israelis would say that what they are facing was not a demonstration or protest as you would normally think of it. they describe the palestinian militant movement hamas

as using the mass of people as human shields, saying this was basically a terrorist effort, hoping that they would allow them to infiltrate israel, send what the israelis regard as terrorists to kill israelis, an entirely different narrative from the palestinians who say this was simply unarmed people being shot at. but my question still stands, you know, if there is a question of huge numbers of civilians, you know, coming across the border like that, is there a less costly in human life way of stopping that? well, we know that the israelis reinforce their defences along the border there, there are reports in the israeli media that they brought in something like 100 extra snipers, and there are many people around the world who will be saying that when it comes to crowd control, snipers are a disaster, that you will have the sort of casualty figures that you have just talked about in the hospitals of gaza at the moment. the israelis would say

that you weren't dealing with any normal crowd, that in the middle of that crowd was elements of the hamas movement which is dedicated to killing israeli troops and civilians and so on, that you couldn't police this crowd in a normal way, that it simply wouldn't have been safe. we did see them using tear gas, rubber bullets, but the figures speak for themselves, and some would say the israelis have played into hamas's trap, they have created a very large number of casualties, and there is all the difficulty of explaining that to the world, which is what we are talking about here. the headlines on bbc news: russia has more than doubled the number of british diplomats it plans to expel in the continuing

row over the salisbury poisoning. two men, believed to have been from the islamic state cell known as the beatles, complain they can't get a fair trial after losing their british citizenship. hundreds of people have gathered in cambridge for the funeral of professor stephen hawking. the actor eddie redmayne was one of several speakers at a service. liverpool have moved into second place in the premier league table after a 2—1win over crystal palace, mo salah scored in the 8ath minute to givejurgen mo salah scored in the 8ath minute to give jurgen klopp's mo salah scored in the 8ath minute to givejurgen klopp's side three points. rangers were 2—0 down at motherwell before staging a second—half comeback to a james tavernier penalty and a jamie mackie equaliser, it levelled at 211 do. and stuart broad took two wickets, new zealand is now trailed by 115 runs. all of the latest football

scores are on the bbc sport website, full details at around 5:30pm this evening. the trump administration has said it wants to start collecting the social media history of nearly everyone seeking a visa to enter the us. the proposal would require most visa applicants to give details of their facebook and twitter accounts and disclose all social media identities used in the past five years. it follows a promise by president trump to introduce "extreme vetting" of those entering the united states to help improve security. malala yousafzai has returned to her hometown in the swat valley for the first time since she was shot there by islamist militants. a helicopter carrying ms yousafzai landed not far from herfamily home in mingora amid a tight security operation. the nobel peace prize winner was attacked by the taliban in 2012, for campaigning on behalf of girls' education. britain's most senior police officer, the metropolitan commissioner cressida dick,

has suggested that social media is partly to blame for some violent crime, including a rising number of knife attacks. in an interview with the times, ms dick said the websites were being used by gangs to glamorise violence and allowed trivial disputes to escalate quickly. joining me now via webcam is patrick green from the ben kinsella trust, which campaigns against knife crime and educates young people about the issue. thank you, patrick green, for joining us. the you agree with the metropolitan police commissioner here? yeah, i fully agree with the commissioner, she is absolutely right. social media is unfortunately playing a very negative role in the escalation of knife crime. it contributes to the often futile arguments which developed and are amplified into much bigger things,

which often lead to young people arranging to meet carrying knives and stabbing one another. it also, you know, youtube videos glorifying knife crime lifestyles. all of these things are contributing to the rising knife crime figures that we are seeing at the moment. and so if you agree on the problem, and if there is wide agreement on the problem, what is the solution? well, i think the people missing from this debate are the social media companies. it is their platforms which are being used, you know, incorrectly, to drive knife crime, u nfortu nately, incorrectly, to drive knife crime, unfortunately, figures higher and higher. and we really need to get them into the debate, and we have heard the police talk about this, politicians talk about this, but i never see any of the social media

companies coming forward to talk about this, and that is really important. their product is being incorrectly used and is being used, you know, people are being killed as a result, and i don't think any other manufacturer would allow that to happen without trying to address what the problem is. and we have seen, at some point, social media companies resisting pressure on a number of issues, or denied responsibility for social issues which other groups like yourselves are suggesting they may be in part responsible for, related to — do you think there is a way you can have more purchase on them, to get them involved in the conversation more effectively? well, i do, i hope that listening to the commissioner and the politicians and ourselves in terms of reaching out to them to say, we need your help to stop this problem escalating. and i think they

have a moral and social responsibility to do that. so we would like them to come forward. they are the creative people, i mean, it is a difficult problem, i acknowledge that, but they are the creative people who, i think, can look at this and hopefully find a way where we can use social media in the way that it is designed, to bring us together, to share information more quickly, and not be used as it is currently buy some young people, in terms ofjust escalating violence which ultimately leads to young people losing their lives. thank you so much for giving us lives. thank you so much for giving us your time. teachers in england have moved a step forward towards possible widespread strikes after voting in favour of action to secure increased pay. at their annual conference, members of the nasuwt union voted unanimously in favour of considering the use of rolling industrial action if the government fails to ensure a better pay deal for workers. the uk's largest teaching union, the national education union, is also discussing the issue of pay at its annual conference in brighton. our correspondent

marc ashdown is there. marc, they exercised about pay as well? yes, absolutely, this debate has been going on for about half an hour now, and it is a motion which would potentially call for a strike ballot over pay. we have been hearing that pay has fallen by 20% for teachers since 2010 in real terms. they are demanding a 5% pay rise immediately from this september. we have been hearing lots of delegates showing impassioned stories about how hard it is at the moment, staff are overworked with increased use of supply teachers, are cut, books, things like that, but we are hearing stories about how many teachers have been struggling, especially in london, to bribe property. one delegate shared a story about a teacher in her school who says she only has £60 after paying all her bills to live on.

lots of stories of teachers struggling. if they pass this motion, that would potentially enable them to ballot for strike action, but the nasuwt, in birmingham, pretty much simultaneously, they have already unanimously passed a similar motion considering the use of rolling industrial action if the government fails to deliver a meaningful pay deal. now, their executive can now meet with that option on the table, and this is scheduled to go on for another half hour, then they should have their vote. we are a long way from a strike, the last was in 20 16,000 of schools shut with mass destruction. the government still argues there are thousands more pupils, teachers than in 2010, but the pupil bob elation has grown as well. we'll find out soon as they will pass that motion. from tomorrow, some specially trained paramedics will be able to prescribe medicines to patients who don't need to go to hospital. the change in the law aims to improve care and allow treatment to start more quickly.

our health correspondent catherine burns reports. gemma walsh is already an advanced paramedic, but she wants this extra responsibility. first, though, duty calls. so we are on our way to a 62—year—old who has queried food poisoning. gemma mainly does urgent care cases like this. in other words, not emergencies, but still genuine illnesses. two thirds of her patients do not need taking to hospital. but she says she has to call gps every day to organise prescriptions. after training, she will be able to do that herself. the patient did not want us filming, so we're waiting outside to see if this is one of those situations where in the future, paramedics like gemma might be able to give extra help, not life or death situations, but less serious cases where the patient may need drugs but could avoid a trip to hospital or the gp. gemma decided this patient

did not require extra treatment. eventually, she will be able to prescribe everything from antibiotics for infections to steroids for asthma and a whole lot more. that will obviously then mean the patient does not have to leave their home. it is a nicer experience for the patient. it is quicker. i feel it would complete the care i'm able to give that patient and provide realjob satisfaction. the aim is to train up 700 prescribing paramedics across the uk. it is thought the first ones will be doing the job by the autumn. nhs england is calling it a win—win. this is one of the many steps to helping improve the nhs cope with the pressures it is under. this will reduce some of the demand on general practice because paramedics being able to write prescriptions will help them. it will also reduce the number of patients, we hope, that we need to convey to hospital just to get a prescription.

patients groups say this could save lives, and the new law has been widely welcomed. just one proviso — some medics point out that although this will help, it will not deal with all the funding and staffing problems the nhs is dealing with. catherine burns, bbc news. let's ta ke let's take a look at the weather with philip. ijust want to bring you up to date on what we will see in the next 2a hours developing across the british isles, low pressure to the south—eastern quarter, still a front wrapped around the northern and western flanks, so generally speaking the further north and west you are, the better your prospects towards the end of the day. further east, the raft of cloud just easing its way further to the east, still a little bit of showers. quite a frosty night across northern and western parts of scotland, minus six or seven here, but at least that ends into a really decent start to the new day, a lot of cloud across the east of england.

that will eventually fill in, rain getting in west of the tamar by tea—time. top temperature of the day, 10 degrees also, watch out on monday when the weather moves further north, a distinct risk of snow across northern part of the british isles. this is bbc news. our latest headlines. russia has more than doubled the number of british diplomats it plans to expel because of the blame being placed on moscow over the salisbury nerve agent attack. two men believed to have been members of the islamic state cell known as the beatles complain they can't have a fair trial because the government has stripped them of their british citizenship. a private funeral service has taken place in cambridge for stephen hawking. the astronomer royal, lord rees and actor eddie redmayne gave readings at the service.

now on bbc news, dateline london. hello, i'm shaun ley and this is dateline uk — the programme where journalists from abroad who report on events here for the folks back home debate the big stories of the moment with their peers from the uk. there'll be much talk of peace, as western christians are marking easter. as i say, journalists from abroad will debate that with them. on the border between gaza and israel, friday's violence raises